Support for the Inclusion of Personal Value Preferences in Decision Support Systems

We consider the important issue of including personal value preferences in decision support systems (DSS). Various personal differences have been shown to affect the acceptance, use, and effectiveness of DSS. Decision-making models offer a theoretical basis for the inclusion of various personal differences (including personal value preferences) in decision-making. Research in the field of psychology has long recognized the importance of values in both motivation and choice behavior. Other research has also found personal values to be relevant in decision-making. We posit that since personal values are important in the decision-making process, they should also be important in the support of decision-making and thus in decision support systems

A Comparison of Azacitidine and Decitabine Activities in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cell Lines

Background: The cytidine nucleoside analogs azacitidine (AZA) and decitabine (DAC) are used for the treatment of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Few non-clinical studies have directly compared the mechanisms of action of these agents in a head-to-head fashion, and the agents are often viewed as mechanistically similar DNA hypomethylating agents. To better understand the similarities and differences in mechanisms of these drugs, we compared their in vitro effects on several end points in human AML cell lines. Methodology/Principal Findings: Both drugs effected DNA methyltransferase 1 depletion, DNA hypomethylation, and DNA damage induction, with DAC showing equivalent activity at concentrations 2- to 10-fold lower than AZA. At concentrations above 1 mM, AZA had a greater effect than DAC on reducing cell viability. Both drugs increased the sub-G1 fraction and apoptosis markers, with AZA decreasing all cell cycle phases and DAC causing an increase in G2-M. Total protein synthesis was reduced only by AZA, and drug-modulated gene expression profiles were largely non-overlapping. Conclusions/Significance: These data demonstrate shared mechanisms of action of AZA and DAC on DNA-mediated markers of activity, but distinctly different effects in their actions on cell viability, protein synthesis, cell cycle, and gene expression. The differential effects of AZA may be mediated by RNA incorporation, as the distribution of AZA in nucleic aci

Measuring benefits and the economic value of water in recreation on high country reservoirs

Submitted to Office of Water Research and Technology, U.S. Dept. of the Interior.Bibliography: pages 42-45.OWRT Project no. B-175-COLO; Grant agreement no. 14-34-0001-8068

Summary report

Bibliography: page 18.Sponsored by the Legislative Council, Colorado General Assembly

The skeletal effects of colony-stimulating factor-1 in toothless (osteopetrotic) rats: persistent metaphyseal sclerosis and the failure to restore subepiphyseal osteoclasts

Toothless (tl), one of four osteopetrotic mutations in the rat, is characterized by few osteoclasts, undetectable bone resorption, and failure of correction by bone marrow transplantation. We recently reported that CSF-1 treatment improves these skeletal problems but that metaphyseal sclerosis persists. In the present study we demonstrate that optimal reduction of the skeletal sclerosis in tl rats following CSF-1 treatment has lower and upper dosage thresholds and that skeletal sclerosis returns after CSF-1 withdrawal. Osteoclasts increase significantly in tl rats after CSF-1 treatment, but compared to untreated normal littermates, histochemical staining for characteristic enzymes and osteoclast number is reduced and no osteoclasts appear in the subepiphyseal areas of long bones. These data are interpreted to mean that there are dosage limits to the beneficial skeletal effects of CSF-1, that persistent sclerosis is related to the failure to restore subepiphyseal osteoclasts, that osteoclast or progenitor populations may be deficient or differ in their responses to CSF-1, and that the defect in tl rats is not merely lack of a circulating, biologically active form of CSF-1

The PHYTOCHROME C photoreceptor gene mediates natural variation in flowering and growth responses of Arabidopsis thaliana

Light has an important role in modulating seedling growth and flowering time. We show that allelic variation at the PHYTOCHROME C ( PHYC) photoreceptor locus affects both traits in natural populations of A. thaliana. Two functionally distinct PHYC haplotype groups are distributed in a latitudinal cline dependent on FRIGIDA, a locus that together with FLOWERING LOCUS C explains a large portion of the variation in A. thaliana flowering time(1). In a genome-wide scan for association of 65 loci with latitude, there was an excess of significant P values, indicative of population structure. Nevertheless, PHYC was the most strongly associated locus across 163 strains, suggesting that PHYC alleles are under diversifying selection in A. thaliana. Our work, together with previous findings(2-5), suggests that photoreceptor genes are major agents of natural variation in plant flowering and growth response